Raise the alarm: Two surveys point to the abysmal and deteriorating state of American children's well-being

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, February 22, 2007

Two recent surveys, one international, one local, show that America's and Houston's children are suffering enormous deficits to their well-being. The studies' findings should be raising alarms, not being met with the widespread indifference typical of past reactions to such news.

A recent United Nations survey of the overall welfare of children in 21 economically advanced countries resulted in abysmal ratings for the United States and the United Kingdom: The United States came in at No. 20 on the list, saved only by Britain, ranked 21st, from the ignominy of last place. The Netherlands ranked No. 1, followed by Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The survey assessed all aspects of children's well-being in six broad categories: material well-being; health and safety; education; peer and family relationships; behaviors and risks; and the children's own subjective sense of well-being. Children apparently fared worst in Britain and the United States because of the marked disparity between rich and poor and the lack of support for poor families and children — a sorry state of affairs for two historic world powers.

U.S. officials quibbled that the survey defined poverty differently than the United States, but raised no objections to the data. The British, at least, paid attention, with officials calling the results "a moral issue" and "a crisis at the heart of our society" — this last from the Children's Commissioner for England. (Now there's a novel idea, a senior official just for children.) Only Hungary had a worse record of infant mortality than the United States, only New Zealand had a higher death rate for children under 19 and only British children smoked and drank and beat each other up more than American children.

On the heels of this report comes the latest survey on the state of children in Harris County from Children at Risk, an advocacy group that has been monitoring trends for the past 16 years. Its findings show that 20.8 percent of the county's children live in poverty, 6.5 per 1,000 die before age 1 and 38 percent drop out of high school. (Make that 67 percent for minority males in HISD.)

Even more troubling, these numbers are steadily getting worse: Since the last report two years ago, more children are living in poverty. The rate of infant mortality has increased every year since 2000, and the number of children who received medical coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program declined from more than 90,000 in 2002 to 57,718 in May 2006. In 2005, Houston's air quality was so poor for 45 days that children were told to stay indoors. In 2004, that total was 38 days. Despite increasing need, fewer children are receiving mental health services.

Dr. Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of Children at Risk, said, "We're not giving the next generation a level playing field. If they're high-school dropouts or sick, they don't even get to start the process of making a better life for themselves."

While some valiant souls in government fight the good fight, too many politicians prefer to wax lyrical about the American Dream and how anyone with gumption can pull himself up by the bootstraps and grasp that golden ring. They seem to forget that children are too short to reach that high without a helping hand.